“No! We need to get the green octogenarian herb immediately,” said Temorendalf, the head of the dwarfs.

Temorendalf had a long white beard and his ears were long and sharp, just like knifes and daggers. Temorendalf had a penchant for keeping his beard spotless, so his beard was as white as a milky white cow, while the other dwarfs had dusty and dirty beards.

“But sir, who has the guts to go in the mysterious lazy river containing mystical creatures, some that are not even discovered?” exclaimed one of the dwarfs.

“Well, if someone volunteers to go, out of the eight leaves, three will be given to the king for speedy recovery while I’d give that person two,” said Temorendalf while smirking, hoping that someone would get tempted.

Meanwhile Jemdalf was vandalising the table by scratching it with his tapering nails, out of nervousness. He slowly raised his hand to his head.

“Yes?” said Temorendalf.

“Umm, I’d like to ... volunteer,” he hesitatingly whispered.

“Great!” Temorendalf said enthusiastically, “Now all of you get to work while Jemdalf and I have a little chat in the royal sickroom.

Both the elf-like dwarfs greeted the king loudly and clearly. Unable to talk, the king just shook his head as a reply to their greetings.

“Sir, this is the brave dwarf who is putting his life in danger to save yours,” Temorendalf said proudly

“Excuse me! But I’m actually doing this to save my grandma’s life. She is about to die and I need those octo... whatever herb,” he said slowly.

On hearing this, the king frowned.

“Anyway tomorrow early morning you are leaving for the lazy river. I will give you a map which will show you where exactly that herb is. Just keep in mind that wherever it is, it will be deep down in the moist mud under the lake,” said Temorendalf.

He provided Jemdalf with a book on survival, three sharp daggers, a tapering sword and a flamethrower with innumerable arrows.

All night Jemdalf read the survival book. It taught him many things, such as how to make a healing medicine out of leaves you can easily find in the woods. Furthermore it also taught him how to make food from wild animals and, of course, it taught him how to build a fire. He had packed enough food which could last him around a week.

Right early at dawn when the birds are chirping and the crows are squawking, Jemdalf left for his mysterious and unknown journey. After running for miles and miles, he stopped in a forest which in the map was supposed to come before the Lazy River.

He was walking slowly when suddenly he heard something move through the bushes and trees. Jemdalf gasped and quickly put his flame-thrower in place and slowly walked forward, despite trembling in fear. He heard something slithering behind him. He quickly turned around and gasped loudly.

It was a green cobra with black spots. Jemdalf took out his flame-thrower once again and aimed at the snake and then released. He missed! The snake was speeding towards him showing his venom-filled tapering canines. Jemdalf again tried but missed.

‘Why didn’t I practice,’ he thought to himself and tensely took out his sword.

As soon as the snake came close enough to bite his leg, Jemdalf quickly took out his dagger and flung it. It went right through the snake’s neck. The snake was shrieking in pain while Jemdalf couldn’t believe his eyes that he actually killed a cobra. Unconsciously, the snake must have hit Jemdalf with his strong and rough tail since Jemdalf’s leg was bleeding.

Jemdalf quickly took out his survival book and followed the instructions. He took a long green leaf and wrapped it around his wound. He couldn’t bear the pain, so he decided to take a little break. He sat under a tree and took out a chicken leg piece from his bag. He munched on it savagely like he hadn’t eaten in years. He felt much better but was really sleepy so he decided to take a little nap.

He woke up to the sound of growling wolfs. Jemdalf looked around and, to his amazement, he was circled by a pack of hungry-looking wolfs. He was horror-struck.

Jemdalf quickly took out a chicken piece and flung it far away from him. All the wolves ran for it, except for the strongest and tallest of them all. Jemdalf took out his flame-thrower and aimed at him. Although he missed, the wolf was terrified by the flames and ran away.

From far away Jemdalf could see a glimpse of glistening water.

“That must be it,” he shrieked.

He grabbed his bag and ran to the river. Fearlessly, he jumped in the water and swam deep down. There it was, he could see it. Jemdalf seized the leaf and tried pulling it but it was no use. He was almost out of breath. He took out his sword and slit the roots of the herb. Then he gleefully swam out of the water.

He carefully put the herb in his bag and put his mouth in the water and drank so much water that it was like he’d burst any second. For the way back he filled some water in a plastic bottle he had. While walking away, he heard a shriek from behind him. He slowly turned around. He was speechless.

This was no ordinary animal, it was a creature he had never seen before. The creature had eight legs, an alligator’s body, a bird’s voice and an owl’s face. The creature came towards Jemdalf but did nothing harmful. Instead he just wrapped himself around Jemdalf’s waist and so Jemdalf understood he was harmless. Jemdalf even named him belt.

The way back he faced many animals, such as lions, wolves’ cheetahs, etc., but just one shriek of that magical creature who was now his friend, made every animal run away.

At last, the king was given the medicine made from the magic herb and saved. Jemdalf’s grandma also became well. A grand feast was arranged to celebrate the bravery of Jemdalf, who now became very popular in his land and, like every fairy tale, these dwarves lived happily ever after.

Published in Dawn, Young World, August 31st, 2019